Part 1

Chapter 2

MATLAB Fundamentals

PowerPoints organized by Dr. Michael R. Gustafson II, Duke University

All images copyright The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Permission required for reproduction or display.

Chapter Objectives

Learning how real and complex numbers are assigned to variables.

Learning how vectors and matrices are assigned values using simple assignment, the color operator, and the linspace and logspace functions.

Understanding the priority rules for constructing mathematical expressions.

Gaining a general understanding of built-in functions and how you can learn more about them with MATLABs Help facilities.

Learning how to use vectors to create a simple line plot based on an equation.

The MATLAB Environment

MATLAB uses three primary windows-

Command window - used to enter commands and data

Graphics window(s) - used to display plots and graphics

Edit window - used to create and edit M-files (programs)

Depending on your computer platform and the version of MATLAB used, these windows may have different looks and feels.

Calculator Mode

The MATLAB command widow can be used

as a calculator where you can type in

commands line by line. Whenever a

calculation is performed, MATLAB will assign the result to the built-in variable ans

Example:>> 55 - 16

ans =

39

MATLAB Variables

While using the ans variable may be useful for performing quick calculations, its transient nature makes it less useful for programming.

MATLAB allows you to assign values to variable names. This results in the storage of values to memory locations corresponding to the variable name.

MATLAB can store individual values as well as arrays; it can store numerical data and text (which is actually stored numerically as well).

MATLAB does not require that you pre-initialize a variable; if it does not exist, MATLAB will create it for you.

Scalars

To assign a single value to a variable, simply

type the variable name, the = sign, and the

value:>> a = 4

a =

4

Note that variable names must start with a

letter, though they can contain letters,

numbers, and the underscore (_) symbol

Scalars (cont)

You can tell MATLAB not to report the result

of a calculation by appending the semi-solon (;) to the end of a line. The calculation is still

performed.

You can ask MATLAB to report the value

stored in a variable by typing its name:>> a

a =

4

Scalars (cont)

You can use the complex variable i (or j) to represent the unit imaginary number.

You can tell MATLAB to report the values back using several different formats using the format command. Note that the values are still stored the same way, they are just displayed on the screen differently. Some examples are: short - scaled fixed-point format with 5 digits

long - scaled fixed-point format with 15 digits for double and 7 digits for single

short eng - engineering format with at least 5 digits and a power that is a multiple of 3 (useful for SI prefixes)

Format Examples

>> format short; pi

ans =

3.1416

>> format long; pi

ans =

3.14159265358979

>> format short eng; pi

ans =

3.1416e+000

>> pi*10000

ans =

31.4159e+003

Note - the format remains the same unless another format command is issued.

Arrays, Vectors, and Matrices

MATLAB can automatically handle rectangular arrays of data - one-dimensional arrays are called vectors and two-dimensional arrays are called matrices.

Arrays are set off using square brackets [ and ] in MATLAB

Entries within a row are separated by spaces or commas

Rows are separated by semicolons

Array Examples

>> a = [1 2 3 4 5 ]

a =

1 2 3 4 5

>> b = [2;4;6;8;10]

b =

2

4

6

8

10

Note 1 - MATLAB does not display the brackets

Note 2 - if you are using a monospaced font, such as Courier, the displayed values should line up properly

Matrices

A 2-D array, or matrix, of data is entered row

by row, with spaces (or commas) separating

entries within the row and semicolons

separating the rows:

>> A = [1 2 3; 4 5 6; 7 8 9]

A =

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 9

Useful Array Commands

The transpose operator (apostrophe) can be used

to flip an array over its own diagonal. For example, if b is a row vector, b is a column vector

containing the complex conjugate of b.

The command window will allow you to separate

rows by hitting the Enter key - script files and

functions will allow you to put rows on new lines as

well.

The who command will report back used variable

names; whos will also give you the size, memory,

and data types for the arrays.

Clearing Commands

When running a program many times, the

command window may become cluttered.

Clear the command window with clc. (clear

command).

Good programming practice: At the

beginning of the program, clear all variables:

clear removes all variables from

workspace

and/or clear allclears all objects in

workspace, plus resets all assumptions

Accessing Array Entries

Individual entries within a array can be both read and set using either the index of the location in the array or the row and column.

The index value starts with 1 for the entry in the top left corner of an array and increases down a column - the following shows the indices for a 4 row, 3 column matrix:

1 5 9

2 6 10

3 7 11

4 8 12

Accessing Array Entries (cont)

Assuming some matrix C:C =

2 4 9

3 3 16

3 0 8

10 13 17

C(2) would report 3

C(4) would report 10

C(13) would report an error!

Entries can also be access using the row and column:

C(2,1) would report 3

C(3,2) would report 0

C(5,1) would report an error!

Array Creation - Built In

There are several built-in functions to create arrays: zeros(r,c) will create an r row by c column

matrix of zeros

zeros(n) will create an n by n matrix of zeros

ones(r,c) will create an r row by c column matrix of ones

ones(n) will create an n by n matrix one ones

help elmat has, among other things, a list of the elementary matrices

Diagonal Matrices

Read the diagonal of a matrix: diag(A)

ans =

1

5

9

Create a matrix with a diagonal and zeros:

v=[1 2 3];

X=diag(v,0)

Creating diagonal matrices

X =

1 0 0

0 2 0

0 0 3

X=diag(v,1)

X =

0 1 0 0

0 0 2 0

0 0 0 3

0 0 0 0

Array Creation - Colon Operator

The colon operator : is useful in several contexts. It can be used to create a linearly spaced array of points using the notationstart:diffval:limit

where start is the first value in the array, diffval is the difference between successive values in the array, and limit is the boundary for the last value (though not necessarily the last value).>>1:0.6:3

ans =

1.0000 1.6000 2.2000 2.8000

Colon Operator - Notes If diffval is omitted, the default value is 1:>>3:6

ans =

3 4 5 6

To create a decreasing series, diffval must be negative:>> 5:-1.2:2

ans =

5.0000 3.8000 2.6000

If start+diffval>limit for an increasing series or start+diffval>5:2

ans =

Empty matrix: 1-by-0

To create a column, transpose the output of the colon operator, not the limit value; that is, (3:6) not 3:6

Array Creation - linspace

To create a row vector with a specific number of linearly spaced points between two numbers, use the linspace

command.

linspace(x1, x2, n) will create a linearly spaced array

of n points between x1 and x2

>>linspace(0, 1, 6)

ans =

0 0.2000 0.4000 0.6000 0.8000 1.0000

If n is omitted, 100 points are created.

To generate a column, transpose the output of the linspace command.

Array Creation - logspace

To create a row vector with a specific number of

logarithmically spaced points between two numbers, use the logspace command.

logspace(x1, x2, n) will create a logarithmically

spaced array of n points between 10x1 and 10x2

>>logspace(-1, 2, 4)

ans =

0.1000 1.0000 10.0000 100.0000

If n is omitted, 100 points are created.

To generate a column, transpose the output of the logspace command.

Mathematical Operations

Mathematical operations in MATLAB can be

performed on both scalars and arrays.

The common operators, in order of priority,

are:^ Exponentiation 4^2 = 8

- Negation

(unary operation)

-8 = -8

*

/

Multiplication and

Division

2*pi = 6.2832

pi/4 = 0.7854

\ Left Division 6\2 = 0.3333

+

-

Addition and

Subtraction

3+5 = 8

3-5 = -2

Order of Operations

The order of operations is set first by

parentheses, then by the default order given

above: y = -4 ^ 2 gives y = -16

since the exponentiation happens first due to its

higher default priority, but

y = (-4) ^ 2 gives y = 16

since the negation operation on the 4 takes

place first

Complex Numbers

All the operations above can be used with complex quantities (i.e. values containing an imaginary part entered using i or j and displayed using i)x = 2+i*4; (or 2+4i, or 2+j*4, or 2+4j)y = 16;

3 * x

ans =

6.0000 +12.0000i

x+y

ans =

18.0000 + 4.0000i

x'

ans =

2.0000 - 4.0000i

Vector-Matrix Calculations

MATLAB can also perform operations on vectors and matrices.

The * operator for matrices is defined as the outer productor what is commonly called matrix multiplication. The number of columns of the first matrix must match the number of

rows in the second matrix.

The size of the result will have as many rows as the first matrix and as many columns as the second matrix.

The exception to this is multiplication by a 1x1 matrix, which is actually an array operation.

The ^ operator for matrices results in the matrix being matrix-multiplied by itself a specified number of times. Note - in this case, the matrix must be square!

Element-by-Element Calculations

At times, you will want to carry out calculations item by item

in a matrix or vector. The MATLAB manual calls these array

operations. They are also often referred to as element-by-

element operations.

MATLAB defines .* and ./ (note the dots) as the array

multiplication and array division operators.

For array operations, both matrices must be the same size or one of

the matrices must be 1x1

Array exponentiation (raising each element to a

corresponding power in another matrix) is performed with .^

Again, for array operations, both matrices must be the same size or

one of the matrices must be 1x1

Built-In Functions

There are several built-in functions you can use to create

and manipulate data.

The built-in help function can give you information about

both what exists and how those functions are used: help elmat will list the elementary matrix creation and

manipulation functions, including functions to get information about

matrices.

help elfun will list the elementary math functions, including trig,

exponential, complex, rounding, and remainder functions.

The built-in lookfor command will search help files for

occurrences of text and can be useful if you know a

functions purpose but not its name

Graphics

MATLAB has a powerful suite of built-in graphics

functions.

Two of the primary functions are plot (for plotting

2-D data) and plot3 (for plotting 3-D data).

In addition to the plotting commands, MATLAB

allows you to label and annotate your graphs using the title, xlabel, ylabel, and legend

commands.

Plotting Example

t = [0:2:20];

g = 9.81; m = 68.1; cd = 0.25;

v = sqrt(g*m/cd)*tanh(sqrt(g*cd/m)*t);

plot(t, v)

Plotting Annotation Example

title('Plot of v versus t')

xlabel('Values of t')

ylabel('Values of v')

grid

Plotting Options

When plotting data, MATLAB can use several different colors, point styles, and line styles. These are specified at the end of the plot command

using plot specifiers as found in Table 2.2.

The default case for a single data set is to create a blue line with no points. If a line style is specified with no point style, no point will be drawn at the individual points; similarly, if a point style is specified with no point style, no line will be drawn.

Examples of plot specifiers: ro: - red dotted line with circles at the points

gd - greed diamonds at the points with no line

m-- - magenta dashed line with no point symbols

Other Plotting Commands

hold on and hold off

hold on tells MATLAB to keep the current data plotted

and add the results of any further plot commands to the graph. This continues until the hold off command,

which tells MATLAB to clear the graph and start over if another plotting command is given. hold on should be

used after the first plot in a series is made.

subplot(m, n, p)

subplot splits the figure window into an mxn array of small axes and makes the pth one active. Note - the first

subplot is at the top left, then the numbering continues across the row. This is different from how elements are numbered within a matrix!